Govt. launches open network for digital commerce in Bangalore

The Open Network for Digital Commerce ONDC, a e-commerce company set up by the government, will be open to the public in Bengaluru from Friday. The commerce ministry has started an initiative to help small retailers and to reduce the dominance of e-commerce giants.

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said that consumers in Bangalore will get a whole new shopping experience. Beta testing of the Govt's revolutionary Open Network For Digital Commerce will begin tomorrow. He said it is democratic, cost-effective, and empowers buyers and small businesses.

In April, the ministry started a pilot phase of the open network for digital commerce in five cities of Delhi, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore.

According to PTI, as many as 20 organisations have confirmed investments of Rs 255 crore into the platform. SBI, UCO Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Bank of Baroda have already committed investments.

The government wants to curb the dominance of two large multinational e-commerce players - Amazon and Flipkart, as a result of ONDC. They control more than half of the country's e-commerce trading. These two platforms are accused of limiting access to the market by giving preferential treatment to certain sellers, and they are also accused of giving preferential treatment to certain sellers.

In April this year, the ministry said that the ONDC is expected to make e-commerce more inclusive and accessible for consumers. Consumers can discover any seller, product, or service by using any compatible application or platform, giving them more freedom of choice.

The platform will allow consumers to match demand with the nearest available supply. This would give consumers the freedom to choose their preferred local businesses.